How to Disable Geolocation in Browsers

You want to search for the movie show timings on the local movie website and as soon as you open the site, you see a popup that says it wants to know your location.

And it’s not just the movie website. You will find several others that want to know your real location. If you allow them to access your location, they will get to know about your IP address and device details. If you are privacy conscious, you might not want to reveal this data.

By default, browsers such as Chrome will ask you before allowing a website to access this data. However, if your browser doesn’t ask for your permission, you can change it.

You can disable the geolocation tracking feature to ensure such websites don’t get to know about your real location.

How to disable geolocation in major browsers

Disable Geolocation in Google Chrome

Click on the three dots on the top right corner of Chrome.

Select Settings.

Click on Advanced and visit the Privacy and security section.

Click on Content Settings and go to the Location section.

Find the switch that says “Ask before Accessing” and make sure it’s on.

Disable Geolocation in Mozilla Firefox

Type about:config in the address bar of Firefox.

Firefox will show you a warning “This will void your warranty”. Accept it.

Search for geo.enabled in the search bar.

Select that option and change its value from true to false.

Disable Geolocation in Opera

Click on the Opera logo on the top left corner of the Opera window.

Visit the Advanced tab and click on Content Settings.

Click on Location.

Slide the “Ask Before Accessing” toggle switch to on.

Disable Geolocation in Apple Safari

Click on Safari written on the top left corner.

Go to Preferences.

Under the Privacy tab, select Website Tracking.

Check the options that say “Prevent Cross-site tracking” and “Ask websites not to track me”.

Disable Geolocation in Microsoft Edge

Open the Action Center on your Windows 10 computer.

Select All Settings.

Go to Privacy and select Location

You’ll see a slider that says Location Service. Turn it off.

Visit Location History and find “Clear History on this Device.”

Click on Clear.

Once you have disabled geolocation tracking on your browser, clear the cache, cookies, and browser history. Now you can have a fresh start with your browser.

Summer is a tech writer and a security enthusiast. She is also a software analyst and has reviewed several applications. A technology lover, she has worked in many IT-related industries. She keeps an eye on the cyber world and writes about the latest happenings around the globe.